Time for a Quick Road Trip in Kentucky...Day 1...

When Claude knew he would have surgery and it would take a while to recover, one of his first thoughts was to take a road trip as soon as he was well enough. I remember caring for my parents all those years. It was emotionally draining. I told Claude during that long process, that as soon as they both passed, I wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand. We did make it to New Zealand in March. It was time to act on Claude's thoughts of a small road trip. Somehow, for both of us, that opportunity to be together in a different place and learn what we can about the lay of the land, the foods people eat, customs, etc. is extremely healing. Travel is one of those areas we shine as a couple. 

Where to go. We wanted to be away but not too far away that, if necessary, we could get home fairly quickly. We opted to drive to Prestonsburg, Kentucky. It is about two hours from our home in Georgetown. It is nestled in the eastern mountains of Kentucky. Jenny Wiley State Resort Park is right by it. Claude was there for training when he was Mayor of Sadieville. I went with him and roamed the area by myself. Now, I would roam it with Claude. 

Interestingly, to get there, you travel the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway. It is considered a dangerous road to travel. Strange since it is two lanes going and coming like a freeway most of the way. I'm not sure if one gets lulled to sleep weaving through those mountains, or coming around curves and someone drifts into another lane. But it does have lots of wrecks for a very good highway. We were blessed with a safe journey. 

We left on Monday, July 31st and returned home Thursday, August 3rd. These are a few shots as we drove Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway. It was a lovely day for a car ride. 

When we got to Slade, Claude exited the parkway and took Route 11 toward Natural Bridge. This was road we are familiar with. 

We drove to Mill Creek Lake and pulled off Hwy 11 to give it a look. Beautiful little lake with a place to rent kayaks and enjoy the mountains around the lake. There is a nice runoff area from the lake down the hill to Hwy 11.

If we had taken a left turn of the Mountain Parkway, we would have headed to Red River Gorge. I had not driven that road that I remembered. Claude turned the car back toward the Mountain Parkway. We would stop at Miguel's for a piece of pizza. Miguel's has been featured on those shows on the cooking channel. We had never eaten there, so a piece of pizza each and a soda sounded like a great idea. I took these pictures in and at Miguel's.

This is Ale81. Okay, that 1 should be a tiny 1 but I can't figure out how to do that. Another way to write it would a Ale-8-1. A man names Wainscott in Winchester, Kentucky invented a cola drink and named it after his wife, Roxa-Kola. The cola market spurred a lawsuit. Wainscott went to Northern Europe and discovered Ginger Beer. He was impressed, came home and tweeked the flavors to his liking and created a new ginger based soda. He debuted it in 1926 at the Clark County Fair. He had a contest for those tasting his beverage to give it a name. The winner was "A Late One". A picture of the label is below. It is very popular in Kentucky and comes in a variety of flavors. It was served at Miguel's, with a place to return you bottles by the door. Cool. 

Back across the Mountain Parkway we went to find Hwy 715 Sky Bridge Rd. We followed it to where it crosses the Red River.

The Red River was covered in trees with leaves. Hard to get a great picture. These are the best pictures I could get from the car of the Red River and the area along the river for overflow of the river. This area is a narrow road with no line down the middle. That means it should be wide enough for two cars to pass but just might be wide enough. There are signs all along to only stop and park in designated spots. There was not parking spot. So, from the car window the pictures would be taken.

After crossing the Red River, the highway took us to Hwy 77 which I said I would never drive again. Why? I did this with Papa once years ago. The operative word is 'once'. This is a good highway. However, it has Nada Tunnel. This is a one lane road cut through a mountain. There are no lights. The walls of the tunnel look like they are hand cut from the mountain to make just enough room for a car to get through. When I was with Papa, I looked closely to be sure no other car was coming through the other end. I proceeded into the tunnel and was about half way through when a car started in from the other side. It was flashing its lights like it wanted me to back up. By this time I had three or four other cars behind me and they didn't know I had a car coming at us. After we finally got this resolved and our lane of cars through the tunnel, I turned to Papa and said, "That was a lot of fun. We will never do that again." We did not. Claude would. Fortunately, there were no other cars on the road. These pictures are of the entry to the tunnel, driving through the tunnel and the exit out the other side. 

It was great fun to follow the Red River through the mountains. We both felt it would be nice to drive that again when the leaves are off the trees and one can see the lay of the land a bit better. Back to the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway and then head south toward Prestonsburg. We encountered construction. I had just mentioned to Claude that I remembered hearing on the news that they were doing some serious road work on the Mountain Parkway. I wondered where it was. Then...tah dah...there it was. 

A seam of coal in the mountain where it was cutaway for the road.

A construction truck drove up the very steep hill. We even saw another big pick-up truck trying desperately to pull some heavy load up one of the steep hills on the cutaway of the mountain. These things are almost straight up. 

We checked into the Quality Inn and Suites in Prestonsburg. I was amused at the smoke detector. It appeared to have some kind of tiny wheel lock on the side of it. I took this picture and posted it on our family Facebook page asking if anyone had any idea what it was. Todd, our son-in-law, let me know it was the slot where a 9-volt battery should be placed and slid back into the smoke detector. Ah!! We would now hope there was no fire.  

Our dinner this first night would be Mexican. My hubby was craving either fried chicken or Mexican. I found two Mexican restaurants and chose the one with the best reviews. We dined at El Azul Grande and the meal was delicious and the service was excellent.